BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Molongirl I've just finished watching the DVD of this today and loved it. Have tear trails down the cheeks and feeling like a better person for watching something worthwhile. After being traumatised with Old Yeller as a kid (I cried for days!) I am always wary of animal films but this was a winner. Great actors, great story and especially a great bear. Had no idea of this "back" story to Winnie the Pooh and was so pleased to find out about it. Do yourself a favour and spend the time to get hold of this one. I know its setting is World War 1; but the focus is not there, rather it is on the love of man for animal and animal for man (and other animals).

tollini I am a judge for the Indianapolis-based Heartland Film Festival. This feature film is a Crystal Heart Award Winner and is eligible to be the Grand Prize Winner in October of 2005. The Heartland Film Festival is a non-profit that honors Truly Moving Pictures. A Truly Moving Picture "…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life." The film centers around a Canadian army veterinarian, who buys a bear cub from a hunter while on a train ride east across Canada with his army comrades. They are going to a training camp, and from there they are going to Europe to fight in World War I. For a while, the bear cub becomes an army mascot. However, the bear becomes too troublesome and the order comes down to get rid of the bear. And that is where the story gets interesting.The young army men have a boring, uneventful life as they train for war. The bear becomes one of their centers of interest. Their other center of interest is developing relationships among each other as they prepare for the then unknown-to-them horrors of war. It becomes obvious that the real purpose of training is to develop loyalty and friendship among each other so that they can rely on each other in stressful war times.The film has wonderful art direction and costuming and you are truly placed into the early part of the 20th century.A.A. Milne learned of this true story and this became the basis for the Winnie-the-Pooh stories.FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Crystal Heart winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.

Virginia Storey I have to say that as the Foley Artist on this film, I didn't spend a day when I wasn't attempting to conceal my tears from my co-workers! I LOVE this story! I'm a great animal lover and so I felt an enormous degree of empathy for the little bear in being "abandoned" by her adopted dad, "Harry". The way the story plays out, I don't know HOW anyone could have left "someone he loves so much" to go to war. But in the end, this is the reality of anyone who is called to war.It really hits me hard in the end when Harry decides to leave Winnie at the zoo, instead of taking her home to Canada, as he promised.If it were "my bear"...I would have brought her home with me...BUT...I'm only in the Sound Department. LOL All in all, I wish I would see more of this type of quality story-telling being produced in Canada. It was a great pleasure to work on Winnie. I loved it. Thanks CBC for a WONDERFUL PRODUCTION! Virginia (who has just left her very first comment out of all the productions she's worked on!)

rps-2 I've already nitpicked about a few minor errors. But on the whole this is a pretty accurate, well produced and heart tugging movie that explores a little known tidbit of Canadian history. CBC hopes it will become an annual Christmas favourite. Interesting they cast David Suchet and Christopher Fry rather than Canadian actors. Do they perhaps want star names to help foreign sales? Okay, the ending is a little drippy. But again, this isn't a documentary but a fuzzy feel good animal movie and in that genre, it works well. Again hats off to CBC for fulfilling its mandate to produce original Canadian drama. (FYI-I meant to vote 8 but accidentally hit 9. It's very good but not that good.)